PLAYING DEFENSE

China Claims It’s Been ‘Open and Transparent’ About Coronavirus Numbers

After U.S. intelligence reportedly concluded that China had been putting out fake coronavirus case totals and death counts.

China rejected the U.S. intelligence community’s reported conclusion that it was intentionally putting out fake coronavirus numbers, claiming that it has been “open and transparent” about its response to the pandemic. According to Bloomberg, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that American officials “just want to shift the blame.” “Actually we don’t want to fall into an argument with them, but faced with such repeated moral slander by them, I feel compelled to take some time and clarify the truth again,” Hua said, adding that the U.S. response to the virus has been slow. “Can anyone tell us what the U.S. has done in the following two months?” she asked. Hua also blasted U.S. officials for publicly attacking China since the outbreak, saying their comments were “just shameless and morally repulsive[.]”

It was reported Wednesday that the White House received a report from U.S. intelligence last week stating that China’s coronavirus data was intentionally incomplete and the number of cases and deaths in the country were untrue. In a Wednesday press conference, Trump denied receiving a report but said he thought China’s numbers were likely undercounted. “Their numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side, and I’m being nice when I say that,” he said. The White House and the Chinese embassy have yet to comment publicly on the matter.